Tell me about CTI

We have been to CN three times and absolutely love it there. We have been dragging our feet with booking anything for this winter. Now here it is, January, it's cold and miserable and on slow days at work, I sit and dream about getting back to the island. Warm weather, great beach, awesome diving, wonderful staff, excellent food, cold Red Stripe, being alone together and spending time re-connecting with each other, etc. As couplesaholics, we all understand the process our brains go through and why we want to go back. So I start trying to plan, and I find CN has no rooms available for when we would like to go. I look to CSA and no rooms. I look to CSS and no rooms. I try CTI and I get the opportunity to book a room. We have enough miles so we can get there for miles and a couple hundred bucks. Excellent! Now, the research on the resort. We are beach people. I like to dive and relax on the beach and my wife likes to relax on the beach and read. It works out wonderfully. What else can you CTI'ers tell us about CTI? I know crabracer loves CTI. I am sure there is a ton of info out there, but honestly, call it lazy, but its easier to start a new thread and ask rather than search through a ton of pages for old info. How are the rooms? How is the beach? How are the resorts, the bars, etc. for example, one of the coolest things about the CN beach is the vendors and singers. Their calls become part of it and you almost wait for them. You miss them when you don't see them or hear them. Do they have guys walking the beach selling ciiggerettes, ciiggerettes, cigars, cigars, cigars, or jetskis, or parasailing? We loved Lychee and the asian-fusion style food, how are the restaurants and what do you have to have when you go? We don't do the nude thing so I can't see us going to the island. are there hot tubs where you can sit and have a drink, is there a catamaran cruise? How far is the Bob Marley grave tour? Knowing that we love CN will we be let down with CTI? Any info and recommendations are appreciated! Thanks?

Our first 3 or 4 trips to Couples were to CN, then we decided to try the other Couples Resorts, CSS,CSA, CTI in that order.

We have been to CTI now for 2 trips in a row. The OR side of the island is different but we Love CTI. Alot of that might be that for both of our CTI trips we have visited in late August - Late September and we feel like we have the place to ourselves. The staff is wonderful, the rooms are nice, like the compact layout, the restaurants seem to be the best of all.

No vendors walking the beach or singers, but also no annoying jet skis sitting off the beach , small beach but big enough for us. (2) nice hot tubs with great views. They have all of the same water sports and a cat cruise. Love the veggie bar on the beach.

You see the GM at the resort daily walking around, talking to the employees and the guests, picking up trash, helping out. That makes a BIG difference.

Our late summer trip to Jamaica is just for us to unwind and relax, we do not invite anyone else to go, we just sit at the pool or on the beach and read and have fun with each other so CTI in late summer has been awesome for us.

Generally speaking, many people fall in love with the first Couples resort they go to. After all, if you've never been to the Caribbean or to any tropical country, and you walk into the lobby of one of the "C" resorts, your mouth is going to drop wide open and you are overwhelmed with your surroundings. That's how we felt on our first trip, and that's how we feel about our upcoming April trip, which will be our 40th overall trip to Jamaica, 37 to CTI, one to CSS and two at another place.

We happen to love the intamacy of CTI. And of course over the past 18 years we have made quite a number of close friends with guests that we have met, as well as, so many members of the staff. For us, it truly is like coming home.

That is one thing that you will miss on the beach is the vendors. And I understand how having just one missing piece of the puzzle can take away from the overall picture. But if y ou can get beyond that, I think that the staff will more than make up for your loss.

The Nine Mile trip to Bob Marley's resting place is pretty much a whole day affair. the ride up in to the hills was a trip in its self. They can arrange that for you in the lobby.

There are hot tubs, but they are rather small. Four to six people.

If you look at it as another experience, without doing the comparing thing, I think that you will find enough about the place that you will enjoy yourselves. Perhaps you may not want to come back. That's okay. But I don't think that they will let you down.

CTI is our favorite. We have been to them all and while the others are nice we love going to CTI. I say try it. You don't have any other choice at a Couples Resort for when you want to go and I'm sure you will enjoy CTI more than trying another Company. You'll never know until you try it.

After two trips to CN, we tried CTI and fell in love! The staff, the renovations, the island, Bayside... It's an amazing place. After three trips there, we're trying CSA in May because we want to experience Long Bay. But we can't wait to get back to CTI!

I did a comparative review of CTI and CN last year when we went to CTI for the first time. I posted it on Tripadvisor and I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't seem to put it here as well. Oops! Anyway, you can check it out here:

Weíve been to all 4 and enjoyed them all for different reasons. We would go back to any of them again. Unfortunately the year we went to CTI I developed a cough two days in, and the weather was less than perfect, but of course no fault of Couples. But we would still go back to CTI.
It was cool for a couple days, so the ocean felt cool and the pools cold. We spent quite a bit of time in the hot tubs, which are nicely located so that you have a good view over the water... except for the spa hot tubs, which we used in the evenings. For us hot tubs ranked higher there than the Negril resorts.. Even though the beach isnít as nice as Negril, the sand quality was ok. It slopes off quicker into the water, but that means less walking out to actually swim. The beach has tall coconut palms, which I really like on a beach. For me it makes it feel more tropical. I missed that on the beach at CN where there are only a few short palms (yes, there are the ones by the pool). Itís also peaceful not having people walk by all day.
The modern spa was very nice there during the day too, with the Buddha pool, sauna and steam room as well as the hot tubs. Our massage was great. The gift shops were good there with lots of logo wear.
We had a deluxe room in building 4. Itís cheaper to have an ocean view there than the Negril resorts. The view absolutely straight out over the ocean was amazing. At night the sax player went right by past the verandah. Donít know if that still occurs, but it was so romantic. We kinda missed the ocean view at CN where we just had a garden room, and even the ocean room views arenít as direct view. Our room was bright and cheery with the bright colours. Yes, the resort is compact with the buildings all close together, but it certainly saves time getting around, or if you need to head back to the room to get something. Itís also much more mobility friendly since it has the elevators. You can also go from one end to the other without getting wet if it rains
The restaurants and food were all good (but then we found that at all). For a smaller resort there are lots of choices, and we enjoyed them all. The food at 8 Rivers was delicious, the atmosphere in Verandah was cozy and the setting of Bayside over the water is so romantic. Nothing like that at CSA, and the closest at CN would be Heliconia beside the beach. The veggie bar is a nice touch too.
We found the staff to really make the effort to get to know you by name. CSS was similar, but we didnít experience that at CN. Not sure if thatís resort specific or just time. We also found the other guests there to be more social that the other resorts, in general. Again, could just be the timing. Often people gathered in the lobby area to sit and chat.
So with the wind we didnít get to do much for water sports at CTI. Next time we hope for better weather to take advantage of that and spend more time floating in the ocean, and in the pools as well. Iíd look forward to chairs by the swim up pool, with a view over the water to Tower Isle.
So enjoy CTI for what it brings to you.

We stayed at CN for the first (3) trips to couples and loved it. Decided to try the other Couples properties. We really like CTI now because we think that it is important to have the 2nd pool that is quiet. The swim up pools get a little noisy late in the day. Walking the beach is not as important to us as not having the jet ski's running around all day. We definitely believe that 8 rivers is the best restaurant across any of the properties.

We could care less about top shelf liquor but would like to see better house wine.

But, that is just our opinion. Luckily they have (4) different properties to cater to different expectations

The only thing @ CTI that would be the ultimate deal breaker for some people would be the beach. If it is the most important thing for you stay @ CN. Otherwise we found CTI to outshine CN in many other ways after being to CN first we are glad we tried somewhere else. It is more relaxing, romantic and the service way outshines CN. It'll be a change for you but it's Couples. You will still love it.

The only thing @ CTI that would be the ultimate deal breaker for some people would be the beach. If it is the most important thing for you stay @ CN. Otherwise we found CTI to outshine CN in many other ways after being to CN first we are glad we tried somewhere else. It is more relaxing, romantic and the service way outshines CN. It'll be a change for you but it's Couples. You will still love it.

You know, after much consideration, so long as there is a flag in the sand, a cold drink on the way, a lounger to lay on and my smokin' hot wife by my side, the beach will be perfect. It's about how you look at it and accepting what you have, not whining about how each location is different. We love the friends we have made through our previous three trips to CN, but we are looking forward to our time CTI. I am a pretty social person so I am sure we will meet new people, and that is ok, but as I said, after thinking about it, we were concerned with the wrong things. We are sure we will love CTI and our 4th vacation on this beautiful island in paradise. Irie!

We spent our 25th anniversary at CTI back in April. It was our first trip to any Couples Resort, and after deciding on the Couples brand, we went over and over which of 3 resorts to choose - (we immediately discarded San Souci due to the hills - husband has very bad knee). We selected CTI due to the fact that it was smaller than the others, more "compact" and frankly, it was less expensive than the other 2. I had my reservations about the size of the beach - I am a huge beach fanatic, but spouse is much more of a pool person, so it didn't really matter to him. But I went with an open mind, and trust me, I'd go back in a second. It was beautiful. The restaurants were all delicious (Eight Rivers being our favorite), the nightly entertainment outstanding. The beach party and International Night were breathtaking. There is a Cat Cruise, diving, snorkeling, glass bottom boat ride, and we never had the dreaded "red flag" the entire time we were there, so everything was a go the whole time. We had a blast.

I did a comparative review of CTI and CN last year when we went to CTI for the first time. I posted it on Tripadvisor and I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't seem to put it here as well. Oops! Anyway, you can check it out here:

My husband and I have been to CTI for our first time in December. Loved every minute and everything about that place. The staff is so nice and you do really get to know them on a personal level. I am even friends on facebook with a few. The beach is small but and thats a big but we never really had an issue of finding a spot. The food was awesome, the drinks also. Loved my Jamaican Mi Smiles. Veggie bar Has the best sweet potatoes and dip plus the staff there always had a smile on his face. I dont remember his name. Our room was in building 5 great few of the ocean and away from everything.we can not wait to get back and already planning out next trip hoping 2015. Just wanted to chime in a little but I know how you feel about another resort cause I feel I would be cheating on my family at CTI.

Well, we went, came home, and can't wait to go back. CTI is just as awesome as CN. We were asked numerous times to compare the two. You simply cannot compare them. Each resort has its niche. Each one is special. It is very hard to resist the urge to go ahead and book for next year. In fact, maybe that will be my wife's birthday present.